MUSIC OF SHADOW

Castlevania - one of the video game industry's
most enduring and iconic
franchises. Born long
before the days of
super-powered PCs and
consoles, Konami debuted the
original Castlevania video
game in 1986. Since, the
franchise has gone on to see
some forty titles released
across multiple platforms. Castlevania now entails a
rich history and detailed
timeline which
chronicles the conflict
between the vampire-hunting,
Belmont family and Dracula
and his resurrection every
one-hundred years. The
music composed for the very first
game came from Satoe
Terashima and Kinuyo
Yamashita. They were later
followed in the franchise by composers such
as Kenichi Matsubara and Jun Funahashi.
While the games have gone on
to spur feature film talk
since 2005, their scores
have spawned multiple
remixes and even inclusion
in some of the live, video
game music performances,
which are ever growing more
popular and more frequent.

In
2010, CASTLEVANIA: LORDS OF
SHADOW was released by
Konami - rebooting the
series and breaking from the
extensive, pre-existing
history. LORDS OF
SHADOW, MIRROR OF FATE, and
ultimately LORDS OF SHADOW 2 would go
on to catapult the series
setting forward by a millennium,
from 1046 to 2014 AD.
The composer that the Konami
producers chose to handle
this radical change
musically was OSCAR ARAUJO, whose original score
for 2010's LORDS OF SHADOW
became one of the year's
best reviewed video game
scores. In 2013, the
franchise returned with
MIRROR OF FATE and again in
2014 with LORDS OF SHADOW 2
both with Araujo as the game
score's composer.

Tracksounds is proud to
bring you this special,
behind-the-score-feature which, in addition
to our original review of
LORDS OF SHADOW, offers
three, brand new reviews and
an interview with composer
OSCAR ARAUJO in both English
and Spanish:

"SCORES OF SHADOW"
INTERVIEW WITH OSCAR
ARAUJO

Oscar
Araujo talks about his foray
into the musical world of
Castlevania. He opens
up about his own personal
love for the original games,
his respect for the
franchise music that came
before, looking to set a
world record recording with
237 musicians at Abbey Road
Studios, and what he is
working on next.

Interview:
English
|
EspanolInterview by Richard
Buxton | English/Spanish
Translation by Helen San

"SOMETHING
DIFFERENT UNDER THE
SURFACE"

Castlevania: Lords of
Shadow 2
by Oscar Araujo

Review by Richard Buxton

The release of a video
game sequel is frequently
met with a unique level of
expectation, an
expectation that forms a
set of parameters within
which the game must fall.
There’s the inevitable
need for the advancement
of a game’s plot and the
improvement of its
visuals, but the decisive
factor in the success of a
game comes down to the
treatment of its gameplay.
The particular demands of
gaming audiences set out a
need for familiarity in
the constructs of the
gameplay, but also add a
need for devices that
innovate in ways that
provide fresh experiences,
all the while never
straying from what made
the original release a
success. The problem with
these parameters is that
they are largely unwritten
until the benefit of the
audience’s hindsight comes
to the fore. When these
expectations are met
though, the results can
mean significant boosts to
a franchise’s reach - as
in the case of the
Electronic Arts published
MASS EFFECT 2 and DEAD
SPACE 2 for example -
whereas a failure to live
up to such demands can see
a franchise brought to its
knees - a fate not foreign
to Capcom with the
critically maligned DEVIL
MAY CRY 2, and RESIDENT
EVIL 5 and 6. This type of
expectation is one rarely
found in the film
industry, where more of
the same, as long as it
advances the overarching
plot, is generally
accepted. Can this level
of expectation affect a
video game’s score? In
many cases yes, and
CASTLEVANIA: LORDS OF
SHADOW 2 is one of these.
Crucially, MercurySteam
have found themselves a
loyal composer whose
ability seems boundless,
his talent unwavering.

"A SAMPLE
OF TALENT"

Castlevania: Lords of
Shadow - Mirror of Fate
by Oscar Araujo

Review by Edmund Meinerts

Keeping video game sequels
straight has always been a
bit of a challenge (is it
really MODERN WARFARE 3 or
just CALL OF DUTY 372055?)
so it’s no surprise that
between 2010’s CASTLEVANIA:
LORDS OF SHADOW and its
forthcoming, officially
numbered sequel comes
2013’s MIRROR OF FATE, a
spinoff of sorts for the
Nintendo 3DS (although it
has since spread to other
consoles as well).
Providing the music for
the reboot of this classic
game series is a virtual
unknown, OSCAR ARAUJO –
hopefully, this will be a
gateway to more work for
the immensely talented
Spanish composer. His
first entry into the
franchise (recently given
the deluxe 2-CD treatment)
was a blistering
orchestral and choral
endeavor of massive scope,
very much in the vein of
HOWARD SHORE’s music for
the Middle-earth universe,
and is among the most
impressive scores ever put
to a video game.
Expectations are therefore
high to see what his
continuing involvement
with the franchise will
bring.

"HIGHLIGHTS
AND SHADOWS"

Castlevania: Lords of
Shadow - Ultimate Edition
by Oscar Araujo

Review by Richard Buxton

It has been three years
since LORDS OF SHADOW, a
reboot of KONAMI’S classic
franchise CASTLEVANIA,
first graced consoles.
Despite initial fan
backlash against the
game’s distinctly
different style to its
predecessors, LORDS OF
SHADOW went on to become
the most successful
release of the
long-running franchise.
Naturally, in a generation
of countless re-releases
and updates, Gabriel
Belmont is called upon to
slay the dark lords once
again in CASTLEVANIA:
LORDS OF SHADOW - ULTIMATE
EDITION. The timing of the
game’s release has
inevitably resulted in a
lukewarm reception, as the
gaze of the gaming world
drifts on to a new
generation of consoles.
With the release of the
ULTIMATE EDITION come new
environments, weapons, and
boss battles, but most
interestingly for the
musically-inclined, an
extended release of
Spanish composer OSCAR
ARAUJO’S spectacular
original score. Can you
really have too much of a
good thing? In this case,
no, you cannot.

"A
BEAUTIFUL RE-INVENTION"

Castlevania: Lords of
Shadow
by Oscar Araujo

Review by Marius Masalar

Not too long ago, the
International Film Music
Critics Association
announced their award
winner for best video game
score. The winner, who was
also nominated for best
breakout composer of the
year, beat out such
critically acclaimed
titles as 007 Bloodstone,
Dark Void, and Lego
Universe — each of which
was penned by marvelous
and well-known composers.
The unexpected bolt of
lightning that took the
IFMCA and your humble
writer’s breath away was
the score for CASTLEVANIA:
Lords of Shadow, a 3D
reboot of the iconic
Konami franchise,
developed by Mercury Steam
and released on the major
consoles earlier this
year. The musical
mastermind behind this
achievement was OSCAR
ARAUJO, whose name is
likely unfamiliar to you.

ARAUJO is a Spanish
composer whose work on
CASTLEVANIA will surely
catapult him to more
mainstream work, though he
is certainly no stranger
to the craft, having
worked on a number of
smaller scale projects in
his homeland. For
CASTLEVANIA, ARAUJO pulled
out all the stops and
recorded an absolutely
immense score with a
120-piece orchestra and
choir in Bratislava. An
immediate gauge of the
score’s success is that
even die-hard Castlevania
fans, ones who were
demanding another
gothic-rock musical
offering in the vein of
all the previous titles in
the series, have
unashamedly admitted that
ARAUJO’s score — while
certainly unexpected —
takes the franchise in a
very strong new direction.